Notes / Commercial Description:
Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with Willamette hops and a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts. This combination gives Turbodog its rich body and color and a sweet chocolate toffee-like flavor. Turbodog began as a specialty ale but has gained a huge loyal following and has become one of our flagship brews.

Pours with minimal head but does leave some lacing behind, black to dark brown-orange in hue, doesn't seem "opaque" but is. Toasty, malty nose, on the whole not very expressive, clean as the spring water component shines through, carob, mild graininess, sweetness in check with only a breeze of hops. Medium-bodied, however, comes across as watery and semi-dilute, very initial impression of warm chocolate cake, coffee and marzipan falls off a cliff by the mid-palate. Solid jolt of carbonation tries to waken the patient. Also appears to shuffle towards an uptick of bitterness at the end but doesn't quite get there. Decent graininess, not flawed or nothing, just boring.

Appearance: The beer looks like a perhaps slightly darker flat coke, tiny head recedes to nothing almost immediately.

Smell: The smell is weak, with no head that's not surprising I suppose. Very faint dark malt aroma.

Taste and mouthfeel: Pretty drinkable, though short on flavor. It has the feel and taste of a flat cola without the sugar and all the acid. This is my first tasting of an Abita beer and it will no doubt be the last time I buy a beer from them.

Poured a deeper reddish / brown color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of toasted and burnt malts, caramel, and light chocolate. Tastes of caramel, chocolate, and had a burnt graininess to it.

This one has some auburn color going with it. Highly carbonated. Aroma has a bit of brown and chocolate malt vibe.

Some tea and toffee taste, mildly sweet. Smooth enough I guess, brown sugar, caramel and cinnamon. I like that it is heartier than the more popular Newcastle ale. This is about the viscosity and heft if you took a standard brown ale and mixed it like a black and tan with a porter. A tan and brown if you will.

Pours a dark brown with a bit of reddish translucence and a quickly fading head. Aromas are of nuts, stale coffee, chocolate, wet cardboard and slightly rotten potatoes. Coffee comes through strongly as a flavor and there is a bit of a sourness to it that compliments the earthy flavors. Still, it is a bit thin and doesn't really go anywhere.

12 oz bottle poured into an Imperial pint glass. Color is a dark reddish brown. Light comes through as ruby red. Minimal tan head, quickly recedes Smell is a mixture of cocoa sweet and hops bitter. Taste is nutty and malt up front, but finishes with some hops. Mouthfeel is light, with a well balanced carbonation. This is a pretty OK beer, but doesn't really grab me.

Probably the best beer that Abita makes. It's a medium brown hue with promising head retention. Aromas are lightly malty, toasty, nutty, and caramelly. Though flavors are modest, they are clean and of same characteristics in the nose. The beer waters significantly into the body and finish. It looses the creaminess and maltiness. Finishes a tacky sweet and a little less than clean. Though not great, it's fair.

chestnut colored, decent maltiness but just a rather bland beer. Very little going on here. Nothing offensive, just boring. Like many other Abita beers, it's the standard run of the mill beer that doesn't offend, yet there's nothing spectacular about it.

the second beer of the party pack that im trying and the second beer that im not all that fond of.pours a nice thick creamy head.taste more like a stout than a ale.if you like stouts its ok but it is not something that i will be bringing home at every oppurtunity.i think the name targets the younger crowd.i think i will avoid this one in the future.

S: Coffee, toffee, malt and chocolate. Has a creaminess to it also. Pretty pleasant nose.

T: Off the bat a bit subdued. Bitterness moves into chocolate-coffee flavors. Finishes with burnt toffee and nice hoppiness. The hops, malt and toffee persist on the finish. While the flavors are pronounced and pleasant, they almost taste diluted. Creaminess is really missed in this flavor profile.

M: Mouthfeel is totally lacking, and really killed this beer for me. I wanted more body, and less carbonation.

D: I really wanted to like this beer, but in the end it just makes me wish I had a stout instead. The lack of body is obvious and really detrimental to the brew. I am having a hard time seperating my own preferences on this one. I think that Abita may have just taken the style a little too far. Would not drink another one.

The beer is a dark ruby with a nice tight beige head. Musty smell. Not bad though. Taste consists of an obscure roasted flavor. A bit of chocolate. And small hop bite. Medium body. A bit of an eccentric brown. Not bad but not good either.

Pours a deep purple-orange, clear and almost dark enough to completely obscure the light behind it. A sudsy two-finger head the color of ground nutmeg builds to bubbly craters that explode and leaves spattered lacing.

Nose is good, yet subdued. Loads of coagulated chocolate and peanut oil, along with wheat and rye bread.

Darker version of a Newcastle, in my opinion. Smells of cereal, grains and malt. Hops aren't too present in the taste or smell, but they are there, faintly. Easy drinking. Smooth with a lingering taste. Not picking up much chocolate at all, but definitely toffee.

Not bad for the price, although nothing special. An easy session brew.

I have had this beer before, and all I can remember is the label (the name rather) and the coffee at the finish. I really dig dark beers that have a chocolate and a coffee flavor… and this one has both! It's cheap, too. I have had a few beers from Abita, but this one stand out among them all. Let's start drinking, shall we?

In the Glass: It's dark in the glass. Looks more like a porter than an American brown ale. It has a nice head, too, and produces a thin lace when I swirl it around in the glass. Based on the tasting notes, I can't wait to smell this thing!

Nose: The nose is just loaded with malty notes. It doesn't have an impressive nose, and for as dark as this beer is, you expect more. You do get some toffee-like notes in the aroma, and the dark chocolate is definitely there. Not smelling the coffee… but you just wait!

Flavor: You start with some dark chocolate notes, then the bubbles take over and turn your palate upside down. Then you get hit with the coffee flavors that leak into the aftertaste. After a few swallows all you can taste is coffee. Imagine taking a pile of coffee beans, grinding them up, and tossing that on your tongue. That is this aftertaste. I like it… not bitter, but just a nice balanced coffee flavor.

Mouthfeel: It starts almost flat, but as you swallow the bubbles overtake the middle of the tongue. Then it ends with a smooth and balanced malt character. I would like this beer, based on the aftertaste, to be a bit thicker… but it will do.

Aftertaste: Can you say, "coffee"? Holy cow is that a crazy coffee aftertaste. It doesn't hit you at first… you have to swallow a few times before the coffee notes start to stick out. But once you do, man… what a flavor. The aftertaste is really the best part of the beer.

Not a huge fan of this beer, but I really dig that aftertaste. That, and I like the name. I don't like dogs though… go figure. This is the only Abita Brewing beer in the book, but this is their most well known. If you like an easy drinking malty beer that packs a punch (pretty decent ABV, too) then grab a six pack of Turbodog. Bottoms up, people!

Turbodog - The bottle says: "Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with pale, caramel, and chocolate malts and Willamette hops. This combination gives Turbodog its rich body and color and a sweet chocolate, toffee-like flavor.

Decent light brown head, disappeared after a minute. Dark cola brown colored beer with an amber glow. Lack of carbonation bubbles in the beer is evident in the first sip. A pretty light bodied beer, mildly creamy mouthfeel. The aroma is a little off, a little malted barley and caramel mixed with a cheap corn infused lager. The taste is pretty weak, some caramel, a bit of chocolate, with a flash of bitter hoppy coffee at the end. Get rid of the off corn flavor, add some carbonation, and you'd have a good drinkable brown ale.

Sitting on the coaster, it's simple dark brown with red-orange highlights (Shoeshine Boy). When held up to the late afternoon sunlight, it becomes a fantastic shade of polished black cherry (Underdog). Okay, so maybe you prefer Clark Kent and Superman, but I wanted to stay with the dog theme. The head is a humdinger as well; creamystiff golden ecru with rockiness to spare. Turbo Dog has a great look if you have sunshine handy, and is pretty decent even if you don't. A lack of lace is the only downer.

The nose is par for the brown ale course and isn't quite the equal of the appearance. It smells more like dark caramel and toasted nuts than it does of roasted malt, chocolate, etc. In other words, the aroma doesn't have designs on porter territory like some browns do. I'm okay with the fact that there's very little hoppiness.

Feh. This one has to be classified as a letdown. There's a shortage of flavor and a way too light body. The Dog needs a significant infusion of malt. Then, and only then, will I be able to take it seriously. I can appreciate caramel and chocolate flavors, but there's so little substance that it seems as if malt extract was used rather than barley.

The nutty flavor is a little harsh, as if pecans were toasted too long and started to char. There's also a little bitter hoppiness that wouldn't be nearly as noticeable if the malt content was adequate. Brown ales should be malt-dominant, shouldn't they? All kinds of mildy unpleasant flavors are permitted to have their say because of the grain shortage.

The flavor profile sorts itself out a little better on the finish, but it's too little, too late. The body is as thin as an anorexic chihuahua (dog theme again) and the relative lack of carbonation contributes to the lackluster mouthfeel, keeping this beer solidly in the 'below average' category.

I had heard good things about Turbo Dog. Even though I haven't been impressed with Abita beer in the past, I was willing to believe that this was their flagship, their pride and joy, and was therefore a cut above. Then I drank this bottle. Far from a snarling, vicious hellhound, it's more of a toothless old pooch. I'm still waiting to be impressed Abita. What else you got?

Color was a murky brown, quite dark. Nose was pretty good and ripe with a touch of smoke maybe.

Taste was full, rich, rounded but had a bit of a harsh quality I did not particularly care for. Tasted dead on though to what I consider to be the American brown style. Has a creamy mouthfeel and was mildly complex. A solid beer that could stand to be slightly more smoothed out overall.

Poured into a tulip it forms a solid finger of tan frothy goodness. Body is brown in the heart and ruby red around the edges. Ring lacing and some speckled DNA also left behind along the way.

Toasted malts with some depth. Depth includes some overly ripe fruits and a touch of espresso. Hops are well placed and give it just enough of a bitter edge to keep this in line. I get a bit of a smoked side bar as well initially but the toasty malts take over.

Notes: So far I believe this is their best offering of the 5 I've tried. Browns are not usually high on my list of favorite styles but when done well I can appreciate the quality. This is far from touching some of the better browns but its decent and worthy of a purchase.

Body pours a deep, near-opaque brown with a solid tan head. Smells clean, dry, a little metallic. Taste starts a little sweet but that's followed quickly by a sharp roasty bite. A little fuzzy and dry-toasty feeling towards the end of the sip, but that sharp roast really jumps out.